Friday, April 20, 2007

When swatching is a good idea

So, I started Ljod on Sunday during the series premiere of Drive (knitting + a glass of wine + Nathan Fillion = happy me).

Silky Wool swatches

As you can see, I mini-swatched for this. Good thing I did, and didn't just wing it with the recommended needles like I usually do. Size 6 (the needles called for in the pattern) gave me a really lovely drapey fabric that had no structure to it at all. It's not evident in the picture there, but the fabric was fairly open-weave... NOT ideal for cablework, even minor cablework like this pattern has.

Size 5 it is, then. :)

Downside to this... my first two long sleeved sweaters took about 6 months apiece for me to finish. Both were done on size 7s. A sweater on size 5s? Let's say that I'm prepared to be joined to this project for a while. Also, I still have a second Go With The Flow sock to do, and while I know I want a little break (that's one very repetitive lace pattern there), I don't want to let too much time go by before starting the second one.

Anyway, I've got about 2" of the back done, which includes the start of the inset cable design. The cables actually look halfway decent! I've only ever done cables in yarn that completely hides them, so I'm really glad I'm not terrible at them.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yeah for swatching. works every time. good luck on a speedy sweater knit.